Hyperliquid Builder Codes Explained: The Hidden Fee in Bots, Wallets and Third-Party Frontends

The short version: a builder code lets an app that sends orders for you (a wallet, a Telegram bot, an alternative trading frontend) add its own fee on top of Hyperliquid's trading fee. You approve a maximum once with your main wallet; after that the app can charge up to that rate on every fill, capped by the protocol at 0.1% on perps and 1% on spot. It is fully onchain, so you can audit exactly how much you paid and revoke approvals at any time.

What is a builder code on Hyperliquid?

In Hyperliquid's docs, a "builder" is a DeFi app built on top of the exchange, not a block builder. Builder codes are how those apps get paid: each order the app submits on your behalf can carry a builder parameter with the app's address and a fee. When the order fills, that fee is charged to you as part of the normal fee logic and credited to the builder, who claims it like referral rewards.

That is why the same BTC trade can cost noticeably more through a Telegram bot or a wallet's built-in perps tab than on app.hyperliquid.xyz. The order book, price and liquidity are identical; the extra cost is the builder fee.

How builder codes work, step by step

1. Approval. The first time you use an app, it asks you to sign an ApproveBuilderFee action that sets the maximum fee that builder may charge you. This must be signed by your main wallet; an API or agent wallet cannot do it.
2. Orders. Every later order the app sends can include {"b": builderAddress, "f": fee}, where f is in tenths of a basis point. f = 10 means 1 bp (0.01%), f = 100 means 10 bp (0.1%).
3. Charging. On each fill, the builder fee is added to the regular Hyperliquid fee. It can never exceed the max you approved, and never exceeds the protocol cap.
4. Revoking. You can change or revoke an approval at any time with your main wallet.

Builder fee limits you should know

Rule	Value
Max builder fee on perps	0.1% of notional (10 bp)
Max builder fee on spot	1% (only on the side paid in the quote asset, so not on spot buys)
Who charges it on perps	Both opening and closing fills
Active approvals per user	Up to 10 builders at a time
Who can approve	Main wallet only, not agent/API wallets
Builder requirement	At least 100 USDC perps account value

Worked example: what a builder fee really costs

Say you trade 50,000 USDC of notional per day on perps, taking liquidity on most fills. The base taker fee on Hyperliquid's first volume tier is 0.045% (see our fees guide for tiers and discounts).

Route	Fee per fill	Cost per day	Cost per 30 days
Hyperliquid directly	0.045%	22.5 USDC	675 USDC
App with 0.02% builder fee	0.065%	32.5 USDC	975 USDC
App with 0.05% builder fee	0.095%	47.5 USDC	1,425 USDC
App at the 0.1% cap	0.145%	72.5 USDC	2,175 USDC

At the cap, the builder fee alone is more than double the exchange fee. For an active trader, that gap is often larger than their monthly PnL. The numbers are illustrative; your real rate depends on your fee tier, maker/taker mix and the builder's actual rate.

Is paying a builder fee worth it?

Sometimes. A good bot, a mobile flow you actually use, copy trading, or advanced order tools can justify a few basis points. What you want to avoid is paying 0.1% on every fill without knowing it, especially for strategies that trade often, scalp, or hold big notional at high leverage. Remember that fees scale with notional, not margin: at 20x, a 0.1% builder fee on entry and exit is 4% of your margin per round trip. Our leverage guide and real PnL guide explain why this matters.

How to check which builders you approved

All of this is public onchain data, so you can check it without connecting a wallet or sharing keys. Two info endpoints do the job:

• {"type": "approvedBuilders", "user": "0x..."} returns the builder addresses you currently have approved.
• {"type": "maxBuilderFee", "user": "0x...", "builder": "0x..."} returns the max rate you approved for one builder, in tenths of a basis point (100 = 0.1%).

How to see how much you paid in builder fees

Every fill returned by userFills or userFillsByTime has a fee field (the total fee, including the builder part) and an optional builderFee field, present only when a builder fee was charged. Summing that field gives your exact builder cost. This short Python script prints your recent total, the top coins by builder fee, and each approved builder with its max rate:

import requests
from collections import defaultdict

USER = "0xYourAddress"
URL = "https://api.hyperliquid.xyz/info"

fills = requests.post(URL, json={"type": "userFills", "user": USER}).json()
total_fee = sum(float(f["fee"]) for f in fills)
builder_fee = sum(float(f.get("builderFee", 0)) for f in fills)
by_coin = defaultdict(float)
for f in fills:
    by_coin[f["coin"]] += float(f.get("builderFee", 0))

print(f"Fills checked: {len(fills)}")
print(f"Total fees: {total_fee:.2f}  of which builder fees: {builder_fee:.2f}")
for coin, fee in sorted(by_coin.items(), key=lambda x: -x[1])[:10]:
    if fee:
        print(coin, round(fee, 2))

approved = requests.post(URL, json={"type": "approvedBuilders", "user": USER}).json()
for b in approved:
    mx = requests.post(URL, json={"type": "maxBuilderFee", "user": USER, "builder": b}).json()
    print(b, "max approved:", mx / 1000, "%")

userFills returns your most recent fills (up to 2,000); for longer history, page through userFillsByTime with start and end times. If you are new to the API, start with our Hyperliquid API Python guide. For a full CSV with fees per fill, see how to export your trade history.

How to revoke or lower a builder approval

Revoking works by signing a new ApproveBuilderFee for that builder with a lower max, or zero, from your main wallet. Do it from a trusted interface or with the official Python SDK. Since you can only hold 10 active approvals, cleaning up apps you no longer use is good hygiene, the same way you would revoke old agent wallets (see our API wallet guide and wallet security guide).

Builder fees vs referral codes

They are different mechanisms. A builder fee is an extra charge added to your trades by the app routing them. A referral code works the other way: it gives you a discount on Hyperliquid's own trading fees. Code HYPERFOLIO gives 4% off fees on your first $25M of volume; see the referral code guide.

Checklist before trading through a third-party app

• Read the approval request: what max fee are you signing?
• Compare the app's total cost with trading on Hyperliquid directly for your monthly volume.
• Prefer apps that disclose their builder rate publicly.
• Check your fills for builderFee after the first trades to confirm the real rate.
• Revoke builders you no longer use.

Track fees and real PnL with Hyperfolio

Hyperfolio is a free, read-only portfolio tracker for Hyperliquid. It never asks you to sign anything, so it has no builder approval and charges no builder fee. Paste any address to see positions, PnL, fees and funding in one place, compare wallets, follow Smart Money and use the perp calculator before you size a trade. Install it as a PWA on your phone and keep an eye on what your trading really costs.

FAQ

Do builder codes change the price I get?

No. Orders still go to the same Hyperliquid order book. The builder code only adds a fee on fills.

Can an app charge more than I approved?

No. The protocol enforces the approved maximum and the global caps of 0.1% on perps and 1% on spot.

Does a builder fee apply to maker orders?

Builder fees apply per fill on orders sent with the builder parameter, whether they add or take liquidity. The rate is set by the app per order, up to your approved max.

Can an agent wallet approve a builder fee?

No. The approval must be signed by your main wallet, which protects you from a compromised bot key raising your fees.

How do I know if I am paying builder fees?

Look for the builderFee field in your fills, or run the script above. If it is absent, no builder fee was charged on that fill.